Santa Cruz Farmers Markets

The company was started in 1997 on a show string budget and immediately took off!

NahNa is a family-owned and operated business that has been selling high quality Eritrean food at the Downtown Santa Cruz Farmers' Market for more than 10 years. NahNa offers a modern twist on delectable, traditional Eritrean cuisine, featuring flavorful stews, fresh vegetables and a variety of meat and non-meat options, wrapped in deep tradition and homemade Taita flatbread.

Drop by and enjoy the mouthwatering aromas and flavors of Eritrean cuisine, inspired by Mediterranean and Ottoman culinary traditions.

Santa Cruz Permaculture (SCP) arrives at the markets in the early winter and sells their beautifully packaged, artful hoshigaki - dried whole hachiya persimmons. Alongside hachiya they are rolling out a whole line of preserves - pickles and salsas. Seasonally they bring kiwi, greens and other produce to the markets.

Their most unique seasonal treat, hoshigaki is referred to as the kobe beef of the fruit world because it is incredibly laborious, tender and delicious. Each fruit is massaged multiple times as it hangs to dry over a period of weeks. It is most common in Japan, Korea and China. Dave Shaw, the owner and founder of SCP, was first inspired to make hoshigaki over 15 years ago when he noticed abandoned persimmon trees around the county, their fruit dropping and rotting on the ground. As a long-time student of food systems Dave was moved. He knew that world hunger is a distribution, not a production problem; just one third of food produced is eaten. What could be done about this food waste?

Santa Cruz Permaculture is a spirited endeavor, not solely economic. Dave comes from a lineage of educators and health practitioners, his parents a retired teacher and doctor. As Dave moved through his 20s and into his 30s he examined how he could contribute to the important work he was studying: permaculture, agriculture, forest and water regeneration, etc. During this time he also completed the UCSC Farm and Garden Apprenticeship. Preserving local food and moving it out of the waste stream became one part of a large vision. He sought out elders and learned from them eventually launching Santa Cruz Permaculture in 2016. The organization would include educational programs, consultation with farms and homesteaders and eventually production and an immersion program. Hoshigaki is the production part of the company.

Serendipitously there are persimmon trees on land where Dave lives. There he harvests, dries and packages the fruit. It is a sophisticated processed - the first year the about 200 fruit he strung to dry molded. Now, over a decade later, Dave has honed his skills and the hoshigaki he sells at market are beautiful.

In addition to running SCP Dave is a teacher at UCSC and out in the community and he is a PhD student. When we were closing our conversation he brought up the trimtab principle. On ships the trimtab is a small rudder that turns first, then turning the larger rudder. He sees SCP as a trimtab for the Great Turning; a move from the industrial society toward a life sustaining society. Learn more about Dave and his work by visiting his stand at the markets this winter or visit his website. Glad to have you on board this season SCP!